lui in for chris jansing. the president is smack in the middle of his trip to asia, but still dealing with his problems here including the approaching fiscal cliff. he called in millionaires to help him with it including warren buffett and tim cook and jamie dimon. and he also asked the monastery for help. i want to bring in the "washington post" columnist dana, and a laugh with the president asking for prayers and has it come down to that, prayers? >> well, i don't know, richard. you always hate to predict success in the town, because they have many ways of snatching a failure from the jaws of victory here, but it does seem that there is at least the contours of some sort of an agreement like if there is

goodwill which is always a big if, that there is the ability to work this out or at least on a temporary basis by the end of the year. they are all making the right noises and certainly if we have got the guys in the safron robes on board, what can stop us. >> the more the merrier. jackie, the president is reach ing out to the ceos here, and has he learned that you can't huddle in washington in a bubble anymore and there has to be outreach and that is why he met with the business leaders before, and labor leaders and he made that call yesterday that we were talking about, and you put that all together and anymore that he can do here? >> well, the outside pressure does help and people are flooding the congressmen with calls and not going unnoticed. the biggest unknown variable here is what the republican conference is going to do and whether boehner can rally the guys to get them on board. that is the biggest question here, because no matter what they decide among the leaders, they have to get it past the house and the senate. >> and you know, there is also compromise idea being floated around right now to keep the

rates the same, but eliminate the deductions for the rich. nancy pelosi making her position on that very, very clear. take a listen to this. >> is that something that is acceptable? >> no. >> nott all, no way? >> no, the president made it very clear in his campaign that there is not enough, there are not enough resources -- what you just described as a formula and a blueprint for hammering our future. >> you know, dana, if she is hardening her stance here as we watch the rhetoric, does it matter here, because nancy p pelosi, really, how big of a seat does she have at the table right now? >> no. she is, and something of a highchair at this point. she is not particularly relevant to this debate. the president was nowhere near as inflexible as that in his news conference, and it is not as if this is all of the sudden some new republican proposal. this was the basis for the bowles/simpson report, and it is the likeliest way to get this thing done, and it is the

likeliest path to compromise and the house democrats are not terribly relevant in this, but on the other hand, you do want to stake out some extreme position so it appears that you are making some concession when the ultimate deal is reached. >> jackie, what is the risk for democrats here? >> i mean, you don't want to -- they are going to have to put up a fight on some of the issues like some of the entitlement changes, because that is -- i mean, that is what their constituency cares about. you know, but there needs to be some coming to the center on this, and that said, i mean, when you look at the polling, if this goes down, it looks like republicans, and people are more inclined to blame republicans, because if democrats fall in line on this. >> and standby, because if you want to cover the other big story that they are watching this morning, and the six days of violence in the middlest east and the pictures are more death and destruction and 75 rockets hitting israel just today, and closing in on cities like tel aviv and the death toll is

climbing in gaza and the death toll is up to 94 according to the associated press and as hamas targets the homes of leaders, we are seeing more casualties in egypt and turkey and qatar are trying to broker a cease-fire. more to eamon with this. we were talking about yesterday and the cease-fire was in talks, but any progress? >> well, there are early indications that perhaps some tentative agreements, and you to couch it so much, because anything can change in this part of the world so rapidly. we understand that as you say egypt has been moo mediating so heavily and there have been ground grounds made and there are also some differences that have not been overcome, and one of the issues that we understand that the israelis want are egyptian guarantees to secure the border off of gaza and off of the coast of gaza to prevent weapons from going in to be used in later conflicts, but at the same time

palestinian factions want international confirmation that sanctions will be lifted. so it is not what the two sides are disagreeing about, but it is whether or not the external parties can guarantee the details of the truce. so we are trying to see if they can get on the same page and we have seen over the past the few years when there is a truce or calm, it is shattered a few months or years after it goes into effect, but a glimmer of hope in egypt. >> thank you, live in israel for us. and back to the panel. i want the start with you, dana, on this, and we look at what is happening in gaza and israel and it is described as a political hot potato for the president right now, as he works with egypt, as they also work with turkey, which has in terms of communication and talking terms,

they do have that turkey with the two parties here. talk about the implications here for the president and what he should do going forward. >> well, the good news to the extent that there's any sort of good news in a story like this is that it occurred after the american election, so that you don't have this being instantly politicized, and the president does not feel like he is forced to be in a position of being immediately over the top in support of israel. he can take a traditional american president role without it getting wrapped up in the heat of a campaign. that said, there is no easy solution for this issue for anybody, and it is going to be a difficult few weeks at least for the president. >> and as we do watch that, on foreign affairs, jackie, the big back and forth internationally is over the attack in benghazi and the talking points, and susan rice apparently going off of approved talking points of

the cia and then someone took out references that terrorists were involved in this, and this is what dianne finestein, the head of the senate intelligence committee said about this. >> do you believe that the president or anybody serving the president deliberately poli lly the american people about this attack? >> no. >> that is correct, senator. >> this whole process will be checked out and we will see who made changes in the original statement, and until we do, i think that it is unwarranted to make accusations. >> very emphatic there, jackie, and the white house saying that it changed one word from consulate to diplomatic facility in those talking points. what do you make of all of this? >> well, you know, i think that the investigation is going to continue. exactly what finestein said, but make no mistake, this issue is not going away any time quickly and particularly if susan rice is nominated to be secretary of state. you saw a lot of the senators

talk talking about that as well this weekend. so i don't think that benghazi or some of the controversies surrounding susan rice is going to go a wway any time soon. >> it won't go away any time soon, but dana, what could cause stop the train when it gets going, because petraeus testified friday and didn't seem to stop anything, and so how do you put it to rest? >> well, sbitsing to see where the scandal goes, because it isless about what occurred there in benghazi than what was said on a television talk show on a sunday, and ultimately that sort of a scandal doesn't have legs. the actual policy issue, itself, is how well the compounds were protected and did things go quickly enough to protect the people there. that is largely a cia question, and largely something that will be resolved in the secure conference rooms where we won't hear what is going on there, and it is a political matter and the scandal won't go anywhere and it is quickly crowd out by much more significant things such as

what is going on in the middle east right now. >> and what we are hearing is from people like saxby chambliss who says that he wants susan rice to come out and say she is wrong as well. what about that, jackie? >> well, the wagons are circling around her in a lot of ways from the democrats, and you saw that saying that she was following the approved talking points that she was given, and i don't know if that is going to happen, but again, we will see where it goes when we start to talk about a new secretary of state. >> all right. jackie, thank you so much. and dana and jackie, have a great week. >> thank you so much. and a top republican is questioning president obama whether he knew about the general petraeus scandal before the election. house committee chair mike rogers said it is possible and said as much on "meet the press." rogers is saying that he is not entirely convinced that the president was not told before election day, because attorney general eric holder knew about the affair months ago. the white house saying that president obama was not informed until november 8th.

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. former cia drirector genera david petraeus has hired top washington lawyer robert barnett as the investigation continues into his career-ending affair. the scandal is revealed lavish details about the lifestyle of a four-star general. a 28-member police escort for instance and executive jets and palatial homes and gourmet chefs and security guards to carry are the bags and press the unifors.s and now the author of the book "the generals" said that being a four-star commander in a combat theatre is like being in a combination of bill gates and j jay-z. i am joined by colonel mark jacobs and the recipient of the congressional medal of honor. colonel, always good to see you. >> good to see you, too. >> and you have seen the reports

written and how accurate are the descriptions? >> well, probably pretty accurate about general petraeus, because this is the highest profile general officer we have, and the fact is that we have lots and lots of generals and admirals and my argument is that we have far too many and more than 1,000 i think for a force that is really, really small, and yeah, they get -- >> how much do we need? >> well, one-third of that, and maybe 300 or so. we have a large number of them in the pentagon and a lot of them are spending time writing plans and defending plans with congress and trying to get the money, because that is a full-time exercise. i think that we can do that with k colonels or somebody like me for example. >> and maybe call you back because of the surge shggestion. and now, secretary gates is upset about this treatment of the four-star generals. there is something about a sense of entitlement and great power that skews people's judgment, and that what gates was saying about the dynamic or the power bubble around four-star

generals, and do you buy that? >> i do. it is not just in the military establishment, but it is true in business, and it is true everywhere. when you bring people, when they come up through the ranks, they sometimes forget where they were and it is very, very easy to justify in your own mind an exs excessive number and style of perk, because you have a great deal of responsibility. the fact of the matter is that people do forget and i don't think it is necessary. >> and not necessarily in the military, but all walks of life. >> yes, take a look at all of the major corporations in the united states. they also have planes and people who mow their lawns and all of the rest of that stuff. >> and retired generals have defended this lifestyle to the "washington post" and wrote, many of them work 18-hour days and six to seven days a week and manage budgets that a dwarf those of large multinational companies and responsible for the lives of thousands, so they are basically running large

corporations like fortune 500 ceos. >> it is 100% true. you have somebody at the fo four-star level can have hundreds of thousands of people working for them and enormous budgets and you are right, responsible for the lives of these people, and although they have a certain amount of money they are allowed to make, they are limited by law to something like $179,000. which is a lot of money, but nowhere near the compensation that one would expect for somebody with that kind of responsibili responsibility. so you have to look at both sides of it, but it is very easy, very easy to be jaded if you have everybody doing everything for you. >> and secretary of defense gates said that he would like to trim some of these perks. does a secretary have that capability o? he called pit third rail of the defense department, and so is it untouchable? >> i hope it is not. i think that one of the things we will realize in the budget problem that we have is that we will cut some of the stuff that

costs us some money, and this may be one of them. but there are two things about that, the first is that to be honest with you, it is not a whole lot of money in the giant scheme of thing, and we waste lots more money on things that are less significant than things to make generals and admirals comfortable to be honest with you, and number two at the end of the day, it is not up to gates. it is not up to the president of the united states, it is up to the congress. we will see what the congress has to say. those are the people who actually decide. >> and you are looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in that budget. now, some of the four-star benefits and i want to list a couple of them, $179 maximum salary, and that is where you start. but you get free housing and subsidies for food and uniforms as well, and that is part of it. when you look at that, does that lead to a sense of discon nnectn though, because the salary is very, very low, but you have the perks on the side. >> and all of those perks don't add up to a whole lot and actually in monetary terms and secondly, a lot of it is for the kinds of entertaining and the social events and diplomacy that you expect from the state department, and which also has

budgets for this sort of thing. that having been said, yes, it is easy to get used to that, and get yourself a sense of entitlement and i will tell you a quick story, a friend of mine retire and this a lot of people have heard the story from other people as well. a friend of mine a high-ranking officer and general officer retires and he said jocularly that he realized he was retired from the army the morning after when he got out of bed and got himself cleaned up and went into the garage and sat in the left rear seat of the car and realized that there was nobody there to drive it. he was not kidding either, because it is easy to get used to the comfort and convenience. >> thank you, sir. that is our msnbc military analyst colonel jack williams. thank you, sir. >> thank you. and gasoline dropping down seven cents in the last two week wee weeks. the cost of regular is now at $3.47 and memphis, tennessee, has the lowest average eyeland, new york, has the highest.

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president obama is in cambodia this hour and he made a passionate speech to the people in myanmar formerly known as berma. chuck todd is traveling with him and has more on the visit for s us. >> good morning from myanmar, richard. the president left a few hours ago but it was a whirlwind 12 hours he spent here, and it is an amazing story, myanmar and the relationship with the united states. a few years ago a country completely isolated essentially from the world community and now a first-h ever visit from a united states sitting president. barack obama spent time with the current president of this country and also did a little tourism if you l and he was greeted by throngs of locals and schoolchildren were waving flags and the motorcade was at times engulfed in the sea of people. and the president did get time

to play a little tourist and went to a famous pagoda here and participated in a ceremony having to do with the buddha that is at this pagoda and then it is on to angsn suu kyu kyi's house. she is the activist who was under house arrest at the very house that the president visited, but also used it a as way to honor secretary clinton in her last trip that the two of them are taking together. but the centerpiece of the visit was the speech that he made here at the university where he laid out why he believed it was time to come now, and start opening the door that myanmar was take ing the steps necessary to become potentially a free society, and that this is the united states opening the door, and opening a hand and laying it out there, because of myanmar had an unclinched fist, and the

president p used the evolution of american democracy as potential motivation for myanmar to go further. here is a little bit of what he said. >> i sent a message to those governments who ruled by fear. i said in my inauguration address, we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclinch your fist. under president thein sein, the desire of change has been met by an agenda of reform. so today, i have come to keep my promise and extend the hand of friendship. >> richard, the president did not just come here with the speech, but with u.s. dollars and a small down payment, if you will, $170 million in aid over the next couple of years if myanmar continues to make democratic reforms, more aid is likely to come. >> thank you, chuck todd. >> as we start the big holiday travel week, thanksgiving will be a big one and travel week is expected to go up for the fourth year in a row. msnbc's jay gray joins me live

from chicago's o'hare airport. and jay, you said that you were starting to see a little bit of the foot traffic tick up. >> yeah, good morning, richard. we are continuing to see it if you will take a look at terminal three here at o'hare airport, and you can see the plenty of people pulling the luggage and 23 million or more are expeckted to travel over the holidays and across the nation, and this is the crossroads for millions of the travelers. this is going to be the busiest airport in america over the holiday week, so a lot of people are coming through chicago as they get on the way to grandmas or wherever they may be going. a majority of the people, richard, will be be traveling in cars. they will be making the road trips this holiday season, and a couple of reasons for that. first of all, the weather has been unseasonably great across the nation and it is going to be in the 50s here in chicago and you don't need a jacket here in chicago which is great, but driving the roadways is the fact that the gas prices have dropped

over the last couple of weeks and making it more affordable for people to travel. and another look at the data is showing that they are not going as far and most people traveling 5 hurn mile 500 miles and it is easy to do it by kcar. either way, if you go by the roads or the airport, you need to understand it is going to be crowded and busy and have a plan and as part of the plan, make sure that you provide some extra time to get through security and do the things that you will need to have a fun and safe holiday. that is the latest from live here at o'hare. i'm jay gray. >> bring the smile when you go travel. jay gray, thank you so much. talk about monday morning quarterbacking, high profile republicans debate the presidential candidate and their party. how todd akin, the tea party factor into 2016 next. i'll just leave you two alone. [ male announcer ] black friday's back. savings start thursday at 8 pm. more electronics start at 10 pm. the first and only place to go this black friday. walmart.

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candidates or a major overhaul needed to broaden the appeal? one thing they might agree on here is that mitt romney did not help when he said that president obama handed out gifts to win re-election. >> we are in a big hole and we are not getting out of it by comments like that, and when you are in a hole stop digging, and he is going to keep digging. >> if we want people to like us, they have to like us first and you can't insult them by saying that their votes are bought. >> for anyone who wants a piece of the american dream, we have to show that we are serious to help everyone and not a group here or there. >> and now a common thread there and let's bring in john fury, and former communications director for dennis hastert, and also three-star admiral and former congressman joe sestak. okay. let me start with you, john, when we look at policies that use outreach and outmoded da ta gathering and the people with the candidate that is chosen and ability to reach diverse groups and what is your thought?

>> well, some elements of all three. i think that we had a candidate problem. mitt romney was not the best candidate and he did not put the best foot forward. and every major error that happened in the campaign happened because mitt romney stuck his foot in his mouth which is problematic, but as republicans we have a cultural problem. not a philosophical problem, but a cultural problem in the sense that we have to be diverse in the outlook and much more inclusive and less of a country club and more of a broad-based party to appeal to all sectors of the country, and there's room in the country for both a con ser vative party and liberal party, but we have to do a better job of explaining why our conservative values make sense for a bigger group of people. >> and so what would be the first thing that you would do then to make it practical to put it to the ground? >> well, first, i'd nominate a better candidate like bobby jindal or jeb bush, because they get that and this is not about passing immigration reform, although i would like to see the immigration reform passed,

because it is good for the country and good for the economy and the groups that come in and we need a shot in the arm, and i th think that having illegal immigrants here is bad for the immigrants and bad for the economy and that is not the only thing to solve the problem, but get it off of the table and get it done with. >> and admiral, conservatives deserted mitt romney like rats on a ship. >> i'm no rat! >> and now, there is a division of race and class and the conservatives have a message going to john's point that appeals across the board. what might be that message that resonates that he is alluding to? >> well, i think that the grand old party can be a very viable party in the future, if it goes back to the american roots. they have one of the two roots down well, rugged individualism, but the other root that they

used to be on the forefront of was where rugged individualism was always in alliance with the common effort. what we often used was collective resources to advance the opportunity and take president eisenhower, and he established the student loan program. the small business administration as well as the interstate highway system so that we have an educated workforce that would in small businesses that create 80% of all new jobs and then the roads to get the goods to market. if the grand old party steps back and stops what the governor jindal said of accusing the other side of not being in step, and steps back to take the great american values and recognizes that they were on the forefront of both of those from the roots at the very beginning, that is where they can really get to what another person said earlier, understand that they have to represent all americans. and under an accountable government where it can be a force for good, i think that they can be a very viable and need to be a very viable party. >> admiral, the same question to you. what is a first practical step

then that the republican party could employ? could it be immigration reform as john was saying? >> no, immigration reform of and by itself is the strategic change they need. it is a tactical maneuver in order to get a certain demographic to vote for them, they need to step back and say, and i have great respect for president reagan, but when he said government is the problem, what we just saw government helped governor christie in new jersey and he could not do enough to put his arm around the leader of the government, and they need to step back and say, yes, government is one that we have certain checks and balances in so they don't come in to unduly interfere with the liberties but at the same time advance our individual opportunity if they are accountable in the education and the job creation, and that is quite frankly going to resonate in places like iowa, pennsylvania, wisconsin and where they have the real working class families here who really decided this last election. >> and john, some republican senators are saying that the

party bosses in washington need to take a more active role as we look at the solutions here, and pushing out more unelectable candidates like todd akin and richard mourdock and how is that going to go over with the tea party? and now that we have had two elections, what voice does the tea party have today? >> well, we didn't know that todd akin and richard mourdock were as bad as they were until they got the nominations, and people are not looking to wagt forring all of the solutions -- looking to washington for all of the solutions, but what we need is a good grass roots plan to get candidates and look to the leadership, because the governors are not ideologues, but they are practical, and they have to practical to run their states and they know that government plays a role in people's lives, but it has to be a limited role. the problem with the government right now is for a lot of people, it is overwhelming, and as the admiral said it is unaccountable, and we need accountable government and that

is right. so look to the governors and not to washington. >> admiral, we heard or we saw senator rubio in iowa 38 months before the next presidential vote is to be cast here, and as we look forward and look at some of the comments put out over the weekend from senator graham, and jindal and walker, and others, and the republicans need to change strategy, but whose vision is best here, and to follow-up, who is best to lead that vision? >> well, i think that republican party has have a great group of credible people coming of age. martinez, sandoval, and you have rubio of course, and christie, and it is a very good credible group coming forward, but i think that they need to take a page from mr. boehner quite fran clich cli and the democrats should be glad that he and someone who not more representative of the extreme elements of the party where two years ago he almost

came to a principled agreement on a grand compromise with president obama and that is what americans want, someone who comes across as john said, more of a pragmatic way and not an idealogue and willing to have a principled compromise and not compromise the principles, because americans don't want it to go left or right, but they want it to work in washington, d.c., and that is the page of the leader of the gop coming forward that will make it work. there is a number this the generation that represent that coming from some of positions as governors. >> thank you both. a great discussion there. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. and also, the owner of a oil rig where an explosion happened friday said it will not give up looking for the missing worker. they say they have three dive boats in the waters off of louisiana and sheriff's deputies checking the beaches. that believed to be another missing worker was found saturday. the blast was caused when a

worker used a blow torch instead of a saw to cut a line that had oil inside. and justin bieber dominated the american music awards walking off with three awards including artist of the year. rapper nicki minaj brought down the house, but none like this, rapper psy along with m.c. hammer complete with the pants there with the hammer pants. and he has still got it. look at this. and still ahead, outspoken chris christie makes a cameo on "saturday night live" and he is talking twinkies. that is coming up. and hostess workers and we are talking about ho-hos and wonder bread and mandy drury is here to talk about it again, mandy. hostess is back in bankruptcy court this morning and hoping for a buyer.

>> they are hoping for a new buyer to come in to save the 18,000 jobs that we talked about friday that could be lost, richard. this is an 82-year-old company and they want to do what they can to salvage it, and yesterday the ceo said that already a few buyers have surfaced since friday expressing interest in the brand. you have names like conagra and flour foods who have expressed interest in hostess and also mexican company who have reports that say they could be a buyer and they are the largest bread-baking company in the world, and richard, part of the reason that hostess was struggling is because of high sugar tariffs meant to protect local producers so the mexican company could take advantage of the lower sugar prices, and that would be good for the company, obviously. >> so many people hoping that a new buyer does come around, and by the way, your discussion and coverage of the store i are made the big time. jay leno used it in the monologue and i want to show it

to you. >> hostess, the company that makes ding dongs and twinkies filing for bankruptcy and going to shut down the company. one customer vowed to take action and he was upset and here you go. >> this is the death knell for twinkies and hostess is closing the doors. mandy drury is here. >> yes, it is really sad. hostess asked the courts for permission to shutdown the company. needless to say, the hostess companies did not take it well. >> i won't get into speculating as to why it happened. we will do a full scale investigation into that. >> very, very upset. >> and jay could not resist there, and you have to have an interesting ability there that you can do two accents. >> that is weird, because i saw it for the first time. i thought, that is not me, it is some american people. >> yes, they have to fix up that piece of sound from the governor. mandy, thank you as always. >> thank you. see you tomorrow. as we reported holiday travels are to be up for the fourth year in a row and if you are flying, check out the daily

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i'm joined by the editor james bennett. and james, we showed the cover there, but "the atlantic" has been honoring the big thinkers since 1867 and when you go through the list, what makes the list standstandout? >> well, we are looking for unconventional thinkers who look for something to take risk to the reputation and career and in some cases their very lives. this is the theory that this is what drives the culture forward. they may turn out to be wrong, but they are willing to stake their reputation on the notion that they are putting forward. >> all right to the cover now, new york city mayor michael bloomberg. you interviewed him. what did you select that made him stand out? >> well, it is a kind of lifetime achievement award for mayor bloomberg, but the specific thing this year was the pursuit of the soda ban and the ban on sugary drinks served in containers more than 60 ounces in size. and he has been widely mocked

and "the new york times" polling has shown that the idea has been rejected by every demographic group in the scity and every political persuasion, but he is sticking to his guns, and what is interesting is that he has already changed the national debate on this subject. the reason he is doing it is obvio obviously to try to do something about the obesity epidemic that he says is on the way to bankrupt iing the health care system. >> and another one on the list, and let's look at one of the women on the list who dared to tape herself driving in saudi arabia where it is illegal and later posting it on youtube. >> yes, richard, think about it, this is a 32-year-old i.t. worker in saudi arabia, a country in which women have few rights. they are so restricted that they are not even allowed the drive. she took it upon herself to get behind the wheel and have herself taped doing it and post the whole thing online. she wound up spending several days in jail for her trouble,

but she also started a national movement around this idea that is result iing in some increase freedom for women there. >> and another woman on the list who is being compared to woody allen and nora ephron is lina dunham. >> it is rough to pick out american culturists, because their risks are not the same as women in saudi arabia, but she is accomplishing something radical, and our writer argues that in with the new series "girls" she has taken the traditional romantic comedy and turned it into something honest and uncomfortable making in pursuit of a radical notion that women don't necessarily have to be out to be liked. >> and she had a political ad out for president obama, right? >> that is true. she did. >> and also turning to another young person who made the cut, 18-year-old nuclear scientist taylor wilson and 18-year-old

and nuclear scientist in the same sentence and what do you do with the rest of your life when you have done that to build a nuclear fusion reactor at the age of 14. >> yes, the nuclear fusion reactor at 14 and since then, he has created systems for detecting terrorist bombs in american forces by noticing radiation signals and richard, he has decided not to go to college to keep at the pursuit of fusion which he thinks is the future of american energy or energy worldwide. his idea is that too many people wind up becoming part of a scientific establishment that it ultimately restricts their originality and creativity, and he is going to stay outside it, and keep the work for him since he was a kid. >> yeah, obviously. >> yeah. very interesting guy. >> and finally we have time for this, a celebrated professor of psychiatry that is also on your list. he publicly apologizes for errors in his work.

talking about robert spencer. >> yes, richard, one of the things that we set out the do when we started doing this group, this collection, this list a few years ago was to identify people who have been publicly willing to change their mind and announce they were wrong about some big matter, and it turns out that sis a very, very hard category of people to find. robert spitzer fits it. he is an imminent psychiatrist and many years at columbia university and a giant in his field, but he put out a study in 2001 that basically validated the idea of what is called reparative therapy and known as ex-gaither pi ay therapy that c actually change your sexual orientation by therapy, a nd he said that his method was deeply flawed and apologizeded for the gay people who were caused pain because of the therapy. >> great list in the "atlantic

monthly" and thank you for the short vie yals of all of those amazing people. >> thank you, richard. >> the tweet today is about one of the brave thinkers that we talked about and a play on the ban of huge sodas. john hayward writes this, i'll bet that michael bloomberg is sad now, because he will never get the chance to ban twinkies.

to politics now and a call for bill clinton to get involved in the middle east peace talks. >> i know he would hate me for saying that, but we need a person of enormous prestige and influence to have the parties sit down together as an honest broker, but we have a lot of work to do to regain the credibility, because we are crumbling all over the middle east. >> now, during a tour of the jersey shore, vice president biden said that the white house will do everything it can to rebuild the communities ravaged

by hurricane sandy, and including his seaside heights where he spent time as a boy. >> well, renwe are not going anywhere, gov, and you have a homeboy this the deal who gets it. >> new jersey governor chris christie who does not back down from anything steered clear from the question about hostess going out of business. >> i'm on "saturday night live" enough, and you think that you could get me behind this microphone having me talk about twinkies? this is a setup, man. i nknow it. you people are the worst. this is a setup and i'm not answering questions on twinkies. no, no, no. no, no, no. it is bad that i even said the word twinky from behind the microphone. >> and as fate would have it, christie was on "saturday night live" the next day donning the familiar fleece jacket he has been donning touring the ravaged

state. >> i would like to say thank you to my wife who has put up with a husband who has smelled like wet fleece for three weeks. >> you have worn it a lot. >> well it is fused to my skin at this point. >> and you have been seen in suits. >> well, it is under the fleece. i am going to die in this fleece. >> and mitt and ann were seen watching "twilight breaking dawn ii" and he has said he is a fan. >> and thomas roberts sup n s i next. >> is he team edward or team jacob? we have to find out. well, thank you, richard. the escalating violence between gaza and israel, and can a cease-fire be brokered and like senator john mccain said, should the u.s. intervene by sending a high-level enjoy to act as a honest broker.

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in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. hi, everybody. good morning, i'm thomas roberts and another busy morning on the plate. the president's historic trip to myanm myanmar, and more fallout from benghazi, and the republicans at a crossroads. however, we want to start with the breaking news. dangerous explosions in the middle east as israel increases attacks in gaza, and meanwhile hopes grow for a brokered cease-fire. the israeli military said it targeted 80 military sights oit night. and now 95 people have been killed since the beginning of the attacks on gaza, and 23 of them children. international negotiations for a cease-fire are ramping up the efforts, and the next concern is